WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Wednesday applauded the inclusion of the Diplomatic Support and Security Act in the Department of State Authorization Act of 2022:

“More and more of the conflicts we’re facing abroad cannot be solved through military force alone. American troops are highly capable and skilled, but they aren’t trained as diplomats and we shouldn’t expect them to be. Our foreign policy toolkit is dramatically limited when the State Department is operating under a bunker mentality, and I’m glad the Committee recognizes that more diplomats on the ground will bring a major value-add to U.S. national security,” said Murphy.

Last March, Murphy introduced the Expeditionary Diplomacy Act, legislation to ensure we have sufficient diplomatic and political expertise on the ground in fragile states and conflict zones. The committee-passed version of the Diplomatic Support and Security Act merges elements of the Expeditionary Diplomacy Act and related legislation introduced by Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho).

 

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